The popularity of purchasing gifts through network shopping services (e.g., websites that enable users to make purchases on-line) has grown with the overall popularity of network shopping services. As in other gift-giving situations, it sometimes occurs that gifts purchased on-line do not meet the needs or tastes of the gift recipient. For example, the recipient may already have the gifted item or the item may not be the right size, type, style, color and so on.
For these and other reasons, a person may choose to give a gift card having a financial value for purchasing goods and/or services. A gift card allows the recipient freedom to select a gift that match's the recipient's needs and tastes. However, without knowing what gift the recipient will desire, the person giving the gift card may have difficultly deciding how expensive of a gift card to purchase that will leaving little to no residual value on the gift card after the gift is purchased. Gift cards can also have a negative stigma as being an impersonal gift.